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The water tunnels would more or less complete the state water system that was the most visible accomplishment of Brown’s father and gubernatorial predecessor, Pat Brown. The tunnels got a boost last week when two federal wildlife agencies concluded that they wouldn’t worsen the Delta’s already damage habitat. However that’s just one of the many regulatory hurdles for WaterFix, as it’s officially dubbed, the most important being an incredibly complex evaluation by the state Water Resources Control Board of its impacts.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to route much of California’s mightiest river into two massive tunnels poses new perils for salmon and other struggling native species, but could give them a couple of breaks as well, experts and project supporters and opponents say in the wake of two newly issued wildlife rulings on the $16 billion project.

Much has been written on the potential effects and adaptations for California’s water supply from climate warming, particularly from changes in snowpack accumulation and melting, sea-level rise and possible overall drying or wetting trends. But what about floods? In a paper in the journal San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science, we along with coauthors from the United States Army Corps of Engineers review much of the literature to date and examine how the Shasta, Oroville and New Bullards Bar reservoirs might adapt to floods in a warmer climate, including a climate that is either wetter or drier.

When it comes to California and climate change, the predictions are staggering: coastal airports besieged by floodwaters, entire beaches disappearing as sea levels rise. Another disturbing scenario is brewing inland, in the sleepy backwaters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It’s a threat to the Delta’s ecosystem that could swallow up a significant portion of California’s water supply. Scientists from government and academia say rising sea levels caused by climate change will bring more salt water into the Delta, the hub of California’s water-delivery network.

Kicking off what are expected to be years of legal battles, a coalition of environmental and fishing groups on Thursday filed the first major lawsuits over California Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17 billion plan to build two massive, 35-mile-long tunnels under the Delta to make it easier to move water from Northern California to the south. The Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, Bay Institute and Golden Gate Salmon Association filed two lawsuits in U.S District Court in San Francisco.